Big Talbot Island State Park
| Big Talbot Island State Park | |
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IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
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| Location | Duval County, Florida, USA |
| Nearest city | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Established | 1982 |
| Governing body | Florida Department of Environmental Protection |
Big Talbot Island State Park is a Florida State Park located on Big Talbot Island, 20 miles east of downtown Jacksonville on A1A North and immediately north of Little Talbot Island State Park.
The park is a nature preserve and a location for nature study, bird–watching, or photography. Other activities include hiking, bicycling, fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, and picnicking. Amenities include picnic pavilions, nature trails, a fishing pier, a boat ramp, bike trails and beaches. The park is open from 8:00 am till sundown year round.
The coastal landscape and beach at Big Talbot Island is unique within the state of Florida as result of the lava like hardpan sedimentary deposits. These rocky formations are habitat for mollusca, crab, oysters, and other tide pool creatures. The formations and sand on Blackrock Beach are much darker in contrast to the coquina formations at Washington Oaks State Gardens, and the limestone outcroppings at Blowing Rocks Preserve further south on A1A. The beach can be accessed through the park entrance or through the trailhead parking area adjacent to the Blackrock Trail.
Big Talbot and Little Talbot are two of only a few remaining undeveloped barrier islands within Florida. Native Americans named the Timucua were the first humans to inhabit these islands. Beginning with the arrival of the French in 1562, France, England, and Spain claimed the islands as colonial territory. In 1735, General James Oglethorpe named the Talbot Islands in honor of Charles Talbot, Lord High Chancellor of England. Along with the bordering Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, the islands are representative of several ecosystems and support a number of diverse natural habitats abundant with wildlife.
Contents
Ecology
Habitats preserved by the park include beach, coastal scrub, coastal hammock, estuary, and tidal marshes.
Flora
Vegetation includes southern live oaks (Quercus virginiana), hollys, magnolias, hickories (Carya spp.), cabbage palmettos (Sabal palmetto), sea oats, and saw palmettos (Serenoa repens).
Fauna
Wildlife include alligators, sea turtles, Florida gopher tortoises, West Indian manatees, white-tailed deer, river otters, marsh rabbits, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, Virginia opossums, eastern gray squirrels, eastern garter snakes, Carolina anoles, broad-headed skinks, pileated woodpeckers, northern cardinals, bald eagles, barred owls, peregrine falcons, painted buntings, and Florida scrub jays.
Gallery
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Picnic shelter and deck-Big Talbot Island.jpg
Picnic shelter and deck-Big Talbot Island
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Blackrock Beach-Big Talbot Island
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Unique hardpan formations-Blackrock Beach
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Spiders above the Blackrock Trail-Big Talbot Island.jpg
Spiders above the Blackrock Trail-Big Talbot Island
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Golden silk (Banana) spider-Big Talbot Island.jpg
Golden silk (Banana) spider-Big Talbot Island Golden silk orb-weaver
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Centrosema virginianum-Big Talbot Island.jpg
Spurred butterfly pea (Centrosema virginianum)
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Railroad Vine-Big Talbot Island.jpg
Railroad Vine-Big Talbot Island Beach morning glory
